“Traffic calming features” by Larry Day

By Age-Friendly Carbondale

The first eight columns in this series reported the results of Age-Friendly Carbondale’s year of work on State Highway 133 inside town limits. We reviewed many previous studies and reports, spent four months listening to residents and eight months analyzing over 4,000 responses from more than 500 individuals. Last week’s column, the ninth in this series, concluded that inside Carbondale, 133 has become a “stroad” — a thoroughfare that is expected to simultaneously be a “road,” efficiently and safely getting people from one place to another, and a “street,” a place where people reside, access goods and services, recreate and accumulate wealth. A stroad, while serving both functions, serves neither well. Our stroad, we wrote, should be redesigned and rebuilt as a street. 

Three synergistic features lead to the “stroad” designation. There are too few pedestrian crossings, many existing crossings are not as safe as they should be and, most importantly, motorized traffic moves too fast. 

Here, concluding our series and based on our analyses in the first nine parts, are Age-Friendly Carbondale’s recommendations for recreating State Highway 133 inside town boundaries. These recommendations align with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s “National Roadway Safety Strategy” and are cited in Colorado’s Vulnerable Users Safety Assessment.

Highest Priority 

  1. Rename the thoroughfare “Carbondale Boulevard.” Install billboards or banners spanning the boulevard, welcoming people to Carbondale Boulevard at the north and south entrances. 
  2. Add signalized, raised crosswalks with refuge islands at City Market, Dolores Way, Ross Montessori. Raise existing crosswalks. Upgrade the existing crosswalk at Hendrick Drive. Make all crosswalks high intensity, i.e. flashing lights placed overhead for better visibility, flashing red rather than yellow, and an auditory signal for reassuring pedestrians in the crosswalk. 
  3. Construct a single-lane roundabout with pedestrian crossing at Industry Way. (planned, date uncertain)
  4. Calm traffic with sidewalk bulb-outs near all pedestrian crossings. Place additional landscaping and artwork between the bulb-outs.
  5. Add a refuge island at Cowen Drive. (scheduled for 2024)
  6. Install flashing red right-turn arrows in right-turn lanes at Hendrick (southbound) and Village Road (northbound).

Second Priority

  1. Reconfigure the Main Street roundabout to single lane. 
  2. Add extensive wayfinding, indicating that drivers are inside a thriving town.
  3. Improve street lighting at pedestrian crossings as needed, e.g. Hendrick.
  4. Add a sidewalk on the south side of Village Road from Buggy Circle to Carbondale Boulevard.
  5. Mark a Bike Box on the east side of Village Road.
  6. Complete the sidewalk along the south side of Cowen to Carbondale Boulevard.

Finally, we want to thank the many people who helped us compile this report and especially the residents who provided its substance. We promised them that we would not let this report sit idle alongside previous documents, but would continue working to see its recommendations become reality. We intend to honor that promise.